The plummet from perfection to calamity came quickly for Boxofchocolates, but as her name would suggest the mare’s camp has taken it all in their stride and is ready to bounce back at Bendigo tonight.
Trainer Kent Harpley, who joined Jason Bonnington on SENTrack to preview tonight’s hit-out, was quick to put his hand up about his mare’s last-start failure, which broke the stunning six-race winning streak that started her career.
Boxofchocolates, who is favourite to win tonight’s Alabar Bloodstock Pace at 8pm, last raced on October 17 in the $20,000 Allied Express Pace when she started a $2.10 favourite for owner-breeder John Campbell.
“We didn’t have a really good trip down, we had a flat tyre, traffic never stops,” Harpley told SENTrack. “And then when we got there, she ate her tongue tie off and then when we went back into the box – and I should have scratched her – she hit her head and that was the end of her.
“I feel sorry for the punters and the people that back her and her owners, I made a mistake and had to wear it all the way home. My niece (Taylor Youl) was into me all the way from Melton to 10km out of Bendigo. I was trying too hard I think. She goes better than what she put out on that night.”
The interrupted lead-in played out in the race, with Boxofchocolates tiring in the run and later found to have suffered a cardiac arrythmia, which would require her to trial before racing again.
She did that at Bendigo on November 9, when according to Craig Rail’s Trial File she “began very quickly to lead, took a trail at the 1500m and pulled hard but accelerated beautifully when allowed to stride from the 500-metre mark, scoring easily”.
It has Harpley optimistic about the five-year-old's chances tonight, stressing she took “no harm at all” from her last race mishap.
He said she would now have a short racing stint before being given a longer spell to ready for elite racing down the track.
“We probably would have been in the paddock if we didn’t have this little setback (but) we had to trial,” he said.
“Now we might only give her this start, or a couple. We’ve got a lovely paddock for her. John (Campbell) will take her, we will build her up a little bit, because she’s done it more or less straight through, and then look for better races next year.”
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